Tests of a Child
by AAnnR
Summary: Geoin, having been teased and abused, is transported to another world with the help of a weird pocket watch. Searching for a new begining, he finds that he is a survivor of the Kuruta clan. Geoin must find Kurapika before time runs out. AAnnR
1. Chapter 1

**Tests of a Child: HunterxHunter FanFiction**

**Chapter 1 – **

In classroom 368, fourth floor 2000 building of Inuvik Elementary School, the teacher called for attendance. "Tyler, Stephanie, Mitch, Leaf, Henley, Alcon, Amelia, Geoin…" The rhythm of call and response between the students and teacher was broken with the last name. The middle aged woman looked around her classroom for the missing student. There, were Geoin's seat was placed, sat the missing boy, sound asleep.

The teacher walked to the young boy who sat in the fourth row of seats. Slipping past the seats of children, she arrived to the side of the desk were young Geoin slept. She stood for a moment contemplating, scheming. An idea came to her. Reaching under the boy's head, lifted it up and dropped it.

The room filled with a slight cry as a loud thump was heard throughout the whole classroom. All of the students erupted with loud laughter, finding the boy's misery funny. The teacher then calmly walked to the front of the room, leaving the embarrassed boy to suffer at his desk.

"Now," The teacher said slowly, gaining all of the student's attention, except Geoin's who was holding his head, trying to will away his newly formed headache. "Would Mr. Geoin Doe care to explain how he _fell asleep_ when class hadn't even begun yet?"

Geoin, hearing her, shook his head while it was still placed in his hands.

"What Mr. Doe," The teacher looked confused by the gesture that her student had made. "I didn't know the shaking your head was an answer."

Geoin lifted his head to face his teacher. He was blushing and clearly embarrassed. "I was tired, ma'am."

She nodded in mock understanding. "Tired, did you sleep okay?"

"Yes ma'am." It was said simply.

"You didn't stay up to late trying to finish all the missing assignments that you have yet to turn in?" The students snickered.

"No Mrs. Collins."

"Illness?" More snickering.

"No."

"Some weird tummy-ache in the middle of the night?" Even _more_ snickering.

Geoin though about this. "No ma'am."

"Some unexplainable nightmare?"

_Yes. _I didn't want to lie, but it wasn't something I was willing to share with her or the class. "No Ma'am."

"Well then." Mrs. Collins walked to her desk and picked a thick stack of papers. The class groaned. "As punishment for _Mr. Doe's_ little siesta the entire class will read chapters 45-50 in the text book, answer questions, and write an essay on every single chapter. This is due in two days." She passed the questions, paper, and books down each row to pass back.

**Geoin's POV:**

Being the last one in my row I was automatically the one to take all of the extras back up to the teacher. After putting my set of things on my desk I walked everything to the teacher, set it on her desk, and went back to my seat. I stumbled over my student's careless feet before reaching my desk, and sat down. I stared at the surface of my table, a noticeable cleanness to the surface of it.

Looking around I found the person to my right seemed to have two text books and an extra thick packet. The snickering of my peers met my ears. To put it simply, I was humiliated. I listened to pencils on paper, sneezes of my classmates around me (which always earned a 'bless you' from me), and the ticking of the clock as seconds passed by.

Lunch seemed to come later than normal, but it finally rang. I followed everyone to the lunch room, then to recess. Walking by myself, I made my way to a tree. The same place I sat since I came to this school 7 years ago. Taking my seat, I watched children climb on the jungle gym and swing on the swing set.

After making sure no one was around me, I closed my eyes and listened to the wind blow through the trees. Matching my breathing with the pattern of the rustling leaves I thought back to this morning. Even though this morning was not that different with the other day at school, I reminded me of the dream I had last night. Thinking back I could only remember red; kind of like fire, or as the coloring red. The dream had left me sweaty, 'pissed off', and with adrenaline that didn't allow me to fall back to sleep.

**Third Person Limited: Geoin – **

A rock collided with his head, reawakening his headache. Rubbing his head new wound, Geoin found fingers entangling in his blond, shaggy hair and pulling it so his head was facing up. His hands instinctually Geoin rose his hands to the offending hand and grabbing it, putting pressure on it to lower his back onto the ground.

"Hey pretty boy," Geoin's eye's snapped open and looked up at the sound of the male's familiar voice. Blue eyes found the dull brown of Fredrick Cleaverson.

"Let go." He said quietly in response, attempting to squeeze the hand that was caught in his hair. His mind was clenched in fear as he starred at the group of students that had circle around him.

"Really? Why should I?" Fredrick was one of the bullies on the school. Geoin just had the pleasure to be in the same class with him. He same one he had unintentionally gave more homework to. He tightened his grip on Geoin's hair.

I squeezed my eyes back together. "It hurts!" I gasped.

Ignoring his plea Fredrick said, closing the distance between them, "I know you're a blond so I'll say this slowly. Since you insist," He spit the words out, covering Geoin's face with saliva. "On making everyone's life a living _hell_ in class you should leave." He released the blond boy's hair slowly, taking some of the longer strand with him, and stepped back. Everyone around him nodded in agreement. "Go find some dumpster to live in, you freak." All the students in the circle giggled at him.

**Geoin's POV:**

"He smells!" _Only because I'm so afraid of my assigned dorm at the orphanage that I sleep in the toilet stall. _

"You're stupid!" _Well, my assignments are stolen! It's not my fault everyone distracts me! Plus I can't read._

"Nobody likes ya!"Someone drawled. _I've never actually had a conversation with anyone, though I have tried to start one. Do you know how hard it is to sit with people at lunch if they just keep getting up and moving?_

"He looks like a twig!" _We don't exactly get an entire meal at the orphanage._

"…whore." My eyes snapped open.

"What did you say?" I stared up at my audience, my tormenters.

"Um…your mom." I asked, standing up. Everyone stared at me stupidly. "What were you saying about my mother?" Snarling, I grabbed the closest person to me. Unfortunately it was a tall boy. I had grabbed the collar of his tee-shirt and bent him down to me, face to face.

The big boy gasped, and attempted to escape my grip. I tightened my hand on his shirt, making sure he didn't move.

**First Person Gareth:**

The boy had taken me and bent me down to him. I had prided myself on being tall; saying no one in the world could beat me. Now this little runt, someone I didn't even know (seeing I had just come with the crowd just for the ride), had bested me in something so trivial, strength. I looked down at his hand, which held me captive. I tried to struggle out, squeeze his hand, and even stand back up. Nothing worked, all the while he had asked twice about who had besmirched his mother's name. Well who cared about his stupid mother. "'I bet his mother was a whore'" I repeated to him. There if that's he wanted then what did it matter if he got his answer. Meeting his eyes in defiance, I gasped at the difference. _Oh my God! _I thought as I stared at his ruby red eyes, fury ignited within them.


	2. Chapter 2

Tests of a Child

Chapter 2 –

Geoin's POV:

Anger swept through my body as I pulled the taller boy closer to me. "What did you say about my mother?" I demanded, my eyes narrowing up at him.

He smirked at me, "Your mother was a whore." Defiantly, he stared into my eyes. After several moments, though, something seemed to click within him. I didn't quite notice though. He was beginning to blur out of my line of vision in a strange, yet emotional sea of red.

He began to stutter, nothing he said made any sense? I held him there for a moment before his legs collapsed and I allowed him to fall through my fingers too the ground. Taking my eyes from boy useless boy on the ground unconscious to the children around me, I sweeped my eyes across their faces. Disbelief and fear was etched into every feature, as if they couldn't understand what was happening.

I didn't really understand either. The outline of their bodies were colored with red. Yet, I didn't care. What I was feeling wasn't anger; it was something beyond it.

When I took a step towards them they fled like frightened rabbits; and I, just like a fox, gave chase. It seemed like I only took a couple of steps. Every part of my body quivered in anxiety; every nerve felt like it was on fire. Everything felt so slow, as if everything else was weighted down by gravity; except me. Quickly walking through the pack of students, I headed them off at the front, forcing them to stop. They stated at me with their sun scorched faces and charred skin.

I raised my middle finger to the group of children. "Don't you ever talk about me mother!" I screamed. Tears fell from my eyes as the red, demon audience nodded their heads vigorously in confirmation. Several of their eyes shifted to the side and back to me. Analyzing each person, I realized to late that Fredrick was gone from the rest of the students.

I turned my head to a sound behind me, but something collided into my head. My vision cleared from the burning red before it turned completely black.

XXX

I awoke to the sound of rain pittering against a window. My eyes opening and strained to adjust to the flood of light, momentarily blinding me. White washed walls held several pictures of flowers and dogs. Above me, the ceiling held several different types of lights and equipment.

Where was I?

I turned my head to the side, searching. The subtle light from the window didn't tell much in the way of time, since clouds blocked the sun.

Trying to remember the day before, I could only remember a blinding red. I tried to sit up, to clear my head of the fog, but a sharp pain from the side of my head enveloped me, dipping me in to momentary nausea.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you kid." I jumped, sending my body into another bought of pain and sickness. Slowly turning my head, a men sitting a chair in the far corner of the room came into vision. I starred at him for a moment. He was sporting a business suit, with a book held quite carelessly in hand. Beside him sat a brief case. This man scared me. Everything about him just sent my head into a frenzy, like I needed to escape. I sat up slowly, my eyes never leaving him. Using my right arm to support myself, I sat up fully.

Why was I stuck in room with a person like this? Surely the nurse staff wouldn't allow a man like this just waltz into my room.

"Mr. Doe?" His voice rang with amusement as he watch my reaction."I am Tod Distant, remember?" I slowly nodded my head in acknowledgment, not entirely trusting my voice. "I am the lawyer from the orphanage."

I froze. I had only met this man once before, when I was much younger. Maybe 7? He had asked me a lot of questions before yelling at me for not answering any of them, then leaving.

Distant rose from his chair, taking his book with him. He crossed the room to my bed while still keeping a respectful distance away. His crossed arms, wrinkling his suit at the arms and chest. "I was given the task of giving you the verdict of your trial."

My eyes widened slightly at him. What was this man talking about?

He sighed, bring up the hand that didn't hold the book to his temple slightly rubbing it, as if it hurt. "You have no idea what's happening, do you?" I gave it a moments thought. I guess I remembered something. Stern voices, but it was all foggy. I shook my head, wincing a bit. No, I remembered nothing. He sighed again, muttering. "I was told that the orphanage explained everything to you." He paused, looking ways a bit, as if he was thinking, before looking at me again. "I guess it's not surprising. You were suffering from a major concussion for two weeks.

I watched him turn around and walk back to chair, set his book on it before pulling out his brief case. Distant crouched over it while opening it and pulling something out. Standing up he walked over to me again, tossing the manila folder on to my lap. I looked at it, then up the man beside me, who nodded. It was a rather thin folder. Cautiously, I opened the cover.

My vision became red and I immediately became overwhelmingly nauseous. Pushing a hand to my mouth, I scrambled out of bed running for the trash can on the other side of the room. Just barely making it, I threw up what ever hey had fed the last couple of weeks. I hope it hadn't tasted this bad going down as it was coming up.

I finished the staff at the hospital were only giving me the barest necessities to live. Slowly taking my head from the lip of the trash can, I wiped my mouth and nose with the back of my hand, which I wiped onto the front of my hospital gown.

"Interesting," Apparently had moved closer to me as I was retching up everything in my stomach. I panted as I sat, crouched on the floor. Dizzy and confused, I felt him put a hand on the middle of my back. "I never thought this would be your reaction." He picked me up and carried me to the white bed. Setting me down, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to me. The man went back for the chair and pulled it to the side of my bed. Grabbing the folder and its contents from the foot of the bed, Distant sat down.

There was only one piece of paper in the folder. Just remembering the picture made me sick to my stomach. Piles of blood soaked bodies were laying on the ground. Yet, that wasn't why I had thrown up. It was because I knew each and everyone of them.

Opening the folder, Distant grabbed the gruesome picture and allowed the folder to fall to ground, out of the way. After looking at the picture himself he turned it towards me. Violently turning my head away from the gory sight, I felt myself become sick again.

"Mr. Doe." His stern voice shook me to the core. "Do you know who these people are?"

I nodded my head.

"Who are they?"

I remained silent.

"Mr. Doe," His voice rose with every word. "WHO ARE THEY?"

I shook my head, despite the dizziness. My hands found their way to my face, covering it from the humiliation. I was sobbing, thick fat tears ran through my fingers.

I heard Mr. Distant stand from the chair. "I'll tell you who they are." His voice was gruff. "They were your classmates."

Please, no.

"You killed every last one of them."

I shot my head up at the accusation. NO! There was no way! Even though I couldn't remember, I knew that I would never be able to do something like this. It was true that I hated them, but I could never kill them. I made eye contact with lawyer. His face was fierce, unforgiving. It was the same look her had given me when I was 7.

"Three weeks ago," He began. "After lunch, you decided to sit underneath the tree way in back." He went back to his brief case pulling out another file, this time it was thick. Flicking through it for a moment he pulled out a set of photos. He showed me the first one. There I was. Sitting underneath the large tree, several feet away from the play ground.

"Several kids came up to you, surrounded you." He pulled out a picture with children around the tree."One of them went up to and started harassing you." Another photo, but I was remembering the incident for my self and needed no visualization. "Minutes later you pulled one of the boys down and he collapsed on the ground. Fortunately he survived you tirade." More pictures, more memories. "They tried to run from you, but you cut them off somehow. As you preceded to yell at the group of students one of the boys came up from behind you. You apparently noticed and turned your head, but was hit with a large stick." Distant set one photo after another in front of me. "After you picked yourself of the ground you killed them. All of them. When the teachers tried to interfere you attacked them brutally."

Tears had continued to flow out my eyes. No, this couldn't be right.

"You were angry from being bullied by your peers and lashed out." He put the last photo in front me. Which was the body of corpses. "It ended in a complete massacre of these children."

I squeezed my eyes closed. I couldn't believe this was happening to me.

"Because you were under extreme pressure and circumstances the judge was lenient with the ruling." He paused a moment before continuing in a cold, hard voice. "Mr. Geoin Doe, you have been sentenced to 150 years in prison, no bail for the slaughter of several dozens of children."

My eyes flew open. Everything around me swirled in circles. I had heard what Mr. Distant had said, but the severity of the words were still suspended in my brain. Then, all at once it came crashing down. I had killed my peers. I was going to jail. This couldn't be happening. Oh, God!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 -

Geoin's POV:

"Geoin Pla Doe," One of the men in uniform approached me, taking out a pair of silver cuffs. "You have the right to remain silent." I watched as he grabbed one of my wrists and pulled it up to him. "Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law." Tears swam in my eyes as I felt the cool metal being pressed to my flesh. The cuff clicked into place around my wrist. "You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning." He took the other hand and uncased the cuff around that wrist as well. Letting go, my hands fell in front of me. "Of you can not afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense."

With that I was pushed to the door of the hospital. Two police officers flanked both my sides. The man who had read the Miranda rights walked behind me. There was no room for escape, not I that I would have tried. I knew I didn't have that type of ability.

We walked down the hall towards the elevators. It was deathly silent, which was disheartening to me. I had desperately wanted to see at least one normal person's face before I was deposited into hell. Every one of my doctors and nurses had covered their faces with breathing masks and hadn't conversed with me at all other than to ask me questions for their own contemplation and exam.

I looked up at the passing rectangle lights as they passed my. I silently cried at my misfortune. I would never see the light of a day again. My life was over. We came to the elevator. I didn't see who pushed the button, or the doors open. I was roughly dragged through the doors of the elevator.

XXX

When the doors closed to the cruiser and we were away from the hospital the police officers relaxed a bit.

The officer to my right rolled his shoulder, stretching it before putting it on arm rest on the car door. "How far away is the prison?"

"34 hours." The driver glanced over his shoulder, and smiled his apology.

"My God!"

The driver reached his hand for the police scanner and pulled it to his face. "Squad 24 reporting, over."

Static picked up through the frequency before a voice spoke through the speaker. "Roger that 24. Have you successfully

gained custody of the prisoner? Over."

"Yes. We are heading to the specified prison as we speak. Over."

"Alright. Be careful guys, this one is supposed to be extremely dangerous. Be on guard. Over and out."

After a moment of silence all three of the officers broke out in laughter.

"Jim!" The man on my left wheezed, trying to catch his breath. "Can you believe this!"

"I know!" I turned my head to the right, the officer who had stretched earlier hooted. "We really scored it with this one!"

"Remember what the chief said though!" The driver pounded on the stirring wheel with the heel of his hand. "We must be careful! My god! How can a child be dangerous?"

"Easiest mission ever!" They all howled in fits of laughter again.

Several minutes passed by as they cooled themselves down. I stared straight ahead, fascinated by the yellow markers that

seemed to disappear from sight underneath the car. It was a cloudy outside again, just like that day three weeks ago, when Mr. Distant had visited me for the first time. He visited again last week to give me details of the prison I was going to be held at.

XXX

"It's a children's prison located several hundred's of miles south of here." He said, pointing to the middle of map he set on the bed for me to see.

I nodded.

"In a week you will be taken there by several armed police officers. It take a long time to get were you are going, so to pass the time I will give you something."

Apparently I had done something with my expression because he laughed at me before he dug through his pockets.

He searched for a long time before he came up with a circle attached to a chain. He handed it me. The chain was long, even when clasped together as necklace like it was. It probably was probably long enough to fall from my neck to my belly button. On the back of the circle held etched line that circled in the middle of the object. The front was a bit more complex. There were twelve squares that circled around a circle. Each square and the circle in the middle were holes that showed the inside of the circle to be a faced clock.

"This is a pocket watch." Mr. Distant said.

The chain was connected to the watch by a little part of steel that protruded from above the 12, on the very top. I touched the top slightly and the front of the watch had disconnected. I panicked for a moment before I realized that it was still attached by a piece of metal like a door hinge, except much smaller. I opened and closed the watch several times, having fun.

"You see, Mr. Doe," Distant sat on the side of the bed, gently taking the watch from my hands."This is a very special watch." He opened the watch and turned the face it towards me. "It can transport you through time and space. All you have to do is believe in it. It belongs to you."

I cocked my head to the side.

He chuckled in response. "You'll see what I mean soon."

He looked through his pockets again and pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it he smiled and looked up at me. "Your in luck Mr. Doe, your allowed two personal items at the prison. All they need to do is clear it for bugs, weapons, poison and other junk." He folded the piece of paper up and stuck it back into his pocket. "I greatly recommend you take that pocket watch with you. Do you have any other items?"

I shook my head.

"Well then," He rose from his chair. "I have something else for you that you can take; but you have to wait till tomorrow. I don't have it with me at the moment."

I nodded.

Mr. Distant paused before opening the door. "Geoin, this is very important. Make sure only to wind it at night when you go to sleep. Only wind it once your at the prison.." He turned back to me, making full eye contact with me. "Only wind it when you are getting ready to sleep. Start at 12, pause for exactly four seconds, then move the small hand around towards 12. Don't ever go counter-clockwise. It will only work for you and it only works once." Then he left.

XXX

I felt the watch's cold weight against my chest and reached up, with both my hands, to my right ear. The ear ring was still there. Mr. Distant had given me a ear ring the very next day. It was a pretty ear ring. A square gem dangled at the point from a very small chord that was attached to a clip that attaches to the ear.

Mr. Distant had said that I was wearing it on my right ear the day they found me. When I had arrived at the orphanage, they had taken it because of the fear that it would be stolen or ripped off by the other boys. They had intended to return it when I was adopted. He then said there was no need for that, since I wasn't going to adopted anytime soon.

I had had to pierce my ear to wear it. At first I was scared of the thought, but eventually I gave in when Distant told me that I wouldn't be able to take it with me if I wasn't wearing it.

It hadn't hurt all that bad. In fact, I hardly remembered why I had been so worried. I mean, compared to everything else...

I refused to allow myself to think of those things anymore. I knew that a life time of suffering was ahead of me, but I had no reason to think about the past. It was behind me.

"How's you wife doing Jeremy?" Jim, the man on my right asked.

"She's good." Jeremy answered. He was to one who was driving. "Grouchy and moody, but good."

"Isn't she pregnant? With your fourth?"

"Ya."

"God, I would be grouchy to. I would probably chop off your d-"

The officer on my left coughed loudly.

"What?" Jim turned toward him, saw me and laughed. "Really? Your worried about what the boy hears? He probably hears worse everywhere he goes. I mean, he is going to prison! Plus he's like, what, 8? If he doesn't hear it now he'll be in a huge shock later."

I heard the officers laugh. My head fell down to my collar bone. My blonde messy hair fell in front of my face, blocking the guards from harassing me more from the facial expression.

"Actually he's 12." I looked sharply up at the man on the left. His eyes were narrowed dangerously at Jim.

"Really? He looks a lot younger than that." I turned toward Jim. He had his eye brows raised at his college.

"That's because he is malnourished."

"Huh. How do you know this?" Jeremy asked.

"I read in the briefing report."

"Oh."

"Neither of you read." It wasn't a question.

"Nope."

"Nada."

"The gist of it is," The man sighed. "He's an orphan, went to school at Inuvik Elementary School, bad grades, bullied. Finally one day he has enough and blew up on the play ground. Every single kid died."

"Wow." Jim sounded out of breath.

"Ya."

There was a moment of silence.

"I don't really blame him though." Jeremy said. "If I were in his shoes I might have done the same thing."

"No you wouldn't have!" Jim scoffed. "There's no way any human being would have the stomach to massacre a play ground of little kids at 12 years old. It's not possible."

"Well, either way. The kid gets 150 years in jail."

"Crap." A low whistle sounded from the front. "That's a lot of years."

Tears continued to fall from my eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 –

The yellow lines of the car were swept quickly underneath the carriage of the car. It was hypnotizing; I could rip my eyes from them. Slowly my eyes began to drift closed. My mind drifted else was. Suddenly a large snore jolted me. Shaking my head to clear it, I quickly looked at the officer's head in my lap. I believe his name was Tyler. They had continued for hours and I had learned many things about their families and lives.

Jim was a bachelor. He lived by himself with a dog named Fred. From what I could gather, he loved video games, porn, and night clubs. He was a rather high strung guy, but mellowed down after a few drinks. He became a cop because he was too lazy to go after any other profession.

Jeremy was a very respectful man. He was married and had three kids; a fourth was currently on the way. He hated his wife's in-laws and anything that gave off an annoying sound. He was pretty much a pacifist, but he had been in plenty of bar fights. I believe beer was needed to kick off his fighting spirit.

Tyler was a very much a laid back soul. He would rather take a nap than talk or work, which was why he was very comfortable with sleeping on my lap. Either way, he was kind of grouchy when he was sleepy. So I let him have the comfort of my legs.

I looked at the clock on the dash. 1:46 A.M. The radio was currently humming to soft rock songs. I watched outside the road again. I noticed, ever so slowly, the yellow line moved across the road. Several moments later it snaked to the right side of our vehicle. In the mirror, the driver, Jeremy, had closed his eyes and laid his head down on his collar bone.

Carefully, so I didn't disturb the man in my lap, I reached over the side of the seat and gently nudged him. He jumped and almost swerved off the road.

"What the hell!" Everyone else had jerked awake as well. Tyler and Jim jerked themselves upright. Jeremy quickly got control of the car before pulling it on the side of the road.

"Man!" Tyler undid his seat belt and opened the car door. The other two did the same. "What the hell happened man?"

Jeremy, who still looked rather scarred, laid his the flat of his hands on the hood of the cruiser. His words were blurred, but the other two officers were next to him. As Jeremy continued to speak he raised his head to look at me through the windshield. Tyler and Jim did the same. They looked serious. The last time someone looked at me like that I was being sentenced to jail.

I lowered my head, avoiding all three of their gazes on me. Maybe if I closed my eyes they would go away. I scrunched my blue eyes closed as I heard the crunch of gravel approach the still open door of the car. I felt a pair of hands undo my seatbelt and lift me from the car. "Common little duck." Jeremy grunted before setting me on the ground in front of him and closing the car door.

I raised my face to look at him and saw a smile plastered on his face. Tyler and Jim came to stand next to their friends; they also had huge grins. I sank to my knees. Why were they smiling at me? Had I done something good? Were they mocking me? I didn't understand. Ugh. Was I crying again? Utterly repulsed at myself, I felt my eyes filling up with tears yet again.

"Aw, damn." Jim grunted. "What do we do?"

"I don't know." Jeremy said and shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"Come on guys!" Tyler looked like he could believe his team mates. "He doesn't know what's happening." Jim and Jeremy looked confused. "The boy is scared! You just kind of pulled him out of the car without any kind of explanation!"

"Oh!" Jim breathed in relief. He visibly relaxed.

"So you're saying it's my fault?" Jeremy smirked at the notion. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"Inadvertently, yes." Tyler leaned back against the car and folded his arms in front of himself.

"Well then," Jeremy put his pack of cigarettes back in his pocket before squatting down to my level. Tears were no longer streaming from my eyes. He drew a long breath from the cigarette before exhaling. "Hey, kid."

I watched him through misty eyes.

"We really want to thank you."

Wow. Hold on cow boy. Did he just say they wanted to thank me?

"You did us a justice just now." I cocked my head to the side. In what way did I help them? "It has been a very long night and we should have been paying attention to our ability to stay awake. Thank you for waking the _driver _up. Thanks to you we didn't die today."

"Hey!" Tyler sounded a bit put off.

"Come on Tyler! You fell asleep while driving. The eight year old criminal had to wake you up so we wouldn't get into an accident!" Tyler had nothing to say against that.

Jim, on the other hand scoffed. "Really? Coming from the man who was snuggled up against the criminal in the backseat using his lap as a pillow. If I were you I wouldn't have anything to say."

I found myself chuckling a bit.

Jeremy looked at me and smiled. "And he was a very good pillow." I blushed. Maybe I should have pushed him off of me when I had the chance.

"Ugh! I try to insults the man and he goes off and flirts with an eight year old boy!"

"He's twelve." Tyler added. I smiled at him.

"Whatever!" Jim threw his hands up in the air. They all chuckled for a moment before turning back to me.

"You ready to go little duck?" I nodded. "All righty then." He helped me up and back into the car.


End file.
